Walsh Unveils the Hot Wheels Secret Race Battle

VP of Operations Shelby Walsh discusses her favorite publicity trend (the Hot Wheels Secret Race Battle), as well as what it's like to work at Trend Hunter in her latest interview. You never know when a curve ball could be thrown into the mix in terms of office scheduling. It is both this excitement and unpredictability that keeps Walsh on her toes and loving work. It is also the fact that she has had the privilege to watch the company grow from a startup to something that is becoming a large force within the online media industry.

What is your favorite trend and why?

My favorite trend is projected publicity. Marketers have noticed how billboards are getting a lot less eyeballs. You see them all the time, so how do you make your message stand out? What Hot Wheels has done with projected publicity is project a huge fake racetrack onto a building to launch a new line of little toy cars that they are coming out with. This trend Hot Wheels Secret Race Battle attracted so much publicity and it was a very successful stunt.

How do you define cool?

I define cool as something that really appeals to you and your own unique and weird personality.

What is your advice to the business world?

My advice to the business world would be to really keep your eyes and ears to the ground of what's going on in pop culture. It's so important to know what the trends are. Not only know what they are, but how to utilize them properly.

What is a remarkable way you see businesses changing?

The most remarkable thing that I see changing within a variety of industries is definitely the power a single individual has, not only in their community, but globally. One person's voice can really be echoed and amplified through thousands upon thousands of retweets, reblogs and traffic that they are getting to their own site that they created. Something like citizen journalism is something that is a huge trend and it is just getting bigger.

What is your favorite part about Trend Hunter?

My favorite thing about working at Trend Hunter is definitely the atmosphere. You never know what's going to happen next. I have my position here, I know what I have to get done in a week, but a curve ball could be thrown at me at any chance. For example, we have to interview Kenny vs. Spenny or Ashton Kutcher retweets us or Perez Hilton blogs something about Trend Hunter. It's really interesting to see what sort of curve balls Trend Hunter throws your way and adapt to them.

Predict something awesome for 2020?

One of the future trends that I see coming our way is discrete consumerism. You are seeing this move, especially among hipsters, that they don't want to be associated with a big media conglomerate. Starbucks is actually coming out with little chains where they look like local coffee shops, but they are actually run by Starbucks. Something like that is pretty neat and the whole unbranding that we are seeing big companies doing right now to fit in with smaller local companies is pretty interesting.

What’s your favorite accomplishment?

One of my favorite accomplishments is actually getting the chance to join Trend Hunter at just the right moment where it just started taking off. Sort of seeing it from this little baby that it was to now being this sort of awkward adolescent that it is now and going into the future to be that full fledged household name that it one day will be.